Manning, county reach settlement in lawsuit

Former Alamance County Finance Director Thomas K. Manning and Alamance County reached a settlement Thursday in a lawsuit that had been slated for a jury trial next week.

Manning, a former county commissioner hired in 2014 as finance director, brought the civil suit in April 2015, six months after he left the county's finance department. Whether he was fired or resigned was part of what a jury would have decided in the trial.

Details of the settlement were not immediately available Thursday, but a notice on the U.S. Courts' online docket listed the case as “reported settled.” Attorneys representing Manning and Alamance County weren't able to be reached for comment Thursday.

Manning left his $85,000 job as county finance manager Nov. 6, 2014. Then-Commissioners Chair David Smith announced that Manning had resigned. That was less than a year after the commissioners had offered him the job after 15 years in public service as an elected official, first on the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education and then as a county commissioner and commissioners chair. Manning was, however, headed into a likely difficult re-election bid after a marital-infidelity scandal, and he had recently lost his banking job.

Manning had supervised eight employees, seven of them women, according to the court opinion.

The county argued that Manning resigned after being confronted with complaints of sexual harassment in a closed session Nov. 4, 2014. Manning argued he was fired for refusing to sign off on purchases and contracts made by the Sheriff's Office that hadn't been publicly bid and violated state laws.

The Times-News received notice of the settlement through its attorney John Bussian. Bussian was representing the Times-News in the case because former reporter and current online editor Michael D. Abernethy had been subpoenaed to testify about reporting he did about the lawsuit. The Times-News sought to quash that subpoena under the state's shield law, which protects journalists from being forced to testify about matters they report on.

Manning is represented by Benjamin Klein, of Sigmon Klein PLLC, Greensboro, and James Faucher, of Benson, Brown and Faucher PLLC, Greensboro. Alamance County is represented by William Hill, of Frazier, Hill, Fury RLLP, in Greensboro.